The much-delayed Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR), proposed to be developed near Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), may not happen in the near future.

While the rigid attitude of farmers is delaying the process of land acquisition, lack of interest shown by major IT companies too has kept the fate of the project hanging in balance.

“Acquiring land for the project has emerged as one of the biggest headaches with locals demanding compensation higher than estimated. When the project was proposed in 2008, an acre of land in the proposed villages ranged between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, but today it has touched about Rs 2 crore. One can imagine what it would take to acquire 10,000 plus acres for the project,“ a senior KIADB official said.

Around 30 villages had been identified in Devanahalli and Doddaballapur taluks for the project across the Arkavathy, a tributary of the Cauvery . But the government could only manage to issue a final notification to acquire 2,072 acres under eight villages, all located about 14 km from KIA.

“The land close to the Arkavathy is fertile and commands a high price, ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore per acre. It is becoming extremely difficult to convince farmers,“ officials said. Soon after the project took off in 2010, about 58 software and hardware companies, including leading na
mes like Infosys, TCS and Wipro, had evinced interest in establishing their presence at the ITIR. But they're not showing the same enthusiasm now.

Additional chief secretary (commerce and industries) K
Ratna Prabha said they have no issues with the acquisition of land, but with the investors.“We are still not clear how many IT companies have actually evinced interest in setting up shop at ITIR,“' she said.

Her department had so
ught a report from the IT department but it was vague and lacked details. “We rejected it and sought a detailed plan to enable us to proceed.We are waiting for the new IT secretary ,“ she added.

V Manjula, principal secretary to the IT, BT, science & technology department, who recently took over, said they are working on it and said the project is still on. Sources in the IT department, however, added that not many IT companies are actually showing interest because they are waiting for land to be acquired by KIADB before making any commitment.

Some IT companies are also worried about the connectivity and travel time. “Imagine the plight of an IT professional travelling from Koramangala to ITIR, a distance of over 60 km. It would take more than two hours to travel one way , which is worse than going to Whitefield and Electronics City . I think the government should first look to address the connectivity issue by developing a rail or Metro network to actually convince IT companies to move there,“ said a senior manager at a reputed IT firm.

The head of infrastructure at an IT services company said, “There are no takers for ITIR. The cost of land acquisition has shot up significantly and water is a scarce commodity with no Cauvery water supply towards that part of town. Also, the government should create social infrastructure around the ITIR region to attract talent. There are other integrated townships that can pose as potential competition to ITIR.“